On 3/21/10 at 2:45 pm, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office received multiple 911 calls reporting suspicious shots being fired in the area of Newtown Road and Broadway, as well as a report of a vehicle accident involving a burgundy Toyota truck and a green Toyota SUV. El Dorado County Sheriff's Units, Placerville Police Units and CHP units responded as well as multiple El Dorado County Fire Units.
Upon arrival, responding units found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds in both vehicles. The driver of the burgundy Toyota truck, identified as 36 yr old Jenson Cornelius Kohutek, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the green Toyota SUV, identified as 49 yr old Jack Eugene Larson, was taken to Marshall Hospital in critical condition and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The initial investigation indicates that a road rage incident occurred between the two drivers in the Somerset area and continued from Somerset to the Newtown Road location, where the two vehicles crashed. After crashing, Jenson Kohutek shot Jack Larsen and then took his own life. There was a 72 yr old female passenger in the green Toyota, who was not injured during the incident. There is no apparent link between the two involved parties and this appears to be a stranger road rage incident. All involved parties are residents of El Dorado County.
The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office is investigating this incident as a murder/suicide and is asking for anyone who may have witnessed this incident to contact Detective Kevin Pebley at (530)642-4717.
